This gadget does exactly as promised: it looks like a thumbdrive (sort of) and fries the circuitry of any computer it’s plugged into. It’s made from camera flash parts, is charged with a standard AA battery, and delivers a 300V zap of DC destruction to the port for all your USB-murdering needs. Note that this […]

The Cobham catalog, exposed by The Intercept, features countless pages of surveillance gadgets sold to U.S. police to spy on American citizens: tiny black boxes with a big interest in you. In the creepily bland feature lists and nerdy product names is a whisper of a dark future; perhaps darker than anyone can imagine.

This image depicts the most commonly-found stylesheet colors on the web’s top sites—Paul Hebert did an amazing amount of analysis and this is just one of the intriguing visualizations he came up with. Most of these are obvious staples, especially HTML red and blue, though it’s interesting how far the blue “cluster” is from the […]

The Boing Boing Store’s Gift Guide is full of ideas for pretty much anyone in your life like hipster ice cub trays, Xbox controllers, Halo Boards, and even diamond necklaces. As always, all products in the Boing Boing Store come at great discounts, too. Shop by price bucket starting at under $20. Under $20:Bloxx Jumbo Ice Trays […]

Unlike traditional lighters, the SaberLight features an electronic plasma beam that’s both rechargeable and butane-free. This sleek lighter is even approved by TSA, so you’ll never be stuck buying lighters you’ll just have to throw away partially used. For some people, like me, this is a pretty big game-changer. The SaberLight’s beam is actually both hotter and cleaner […]

Holiday shopping is in full swing, and the Striiv Touch is one of the best gift ideas I’ve landed on. Its simple design works for females and males, and its wide range of features makes it suitable for even the non-fitness enthusiasts in your life.Unlike traditional fitness trackers, the Striiv Touch also acts as a smartwatch. It […]

When I lived in Koreatown in LA years ago, one of the big houses there had 2 guard geese. Every time I walked by, those geese were on the spot, wings spread and honking to beat the band. They were very efficient guards, as far as I could tell.

Geese are very temperamental animals. I think the cultural perception of them as placid creatures (in endless nature paintings) has convinced people that they are something other than large, wild animals.

My five-year old cousin was charged by one who landed in a Chicago park a few years back. My aunt had to beat it back with an umbrella as it kept trying to bite and swipe at children on the playground.

Geese used to chase my dog in the back yard but most of them were afraid of him (and he was a tiny 8 pound dog). They would come after him if his back was turned and he was too close to them, their babies or their food. They’re very territorial and protective. However, when they have eggs, they become much more aggressive. A local man was killed by geese last summer after coming too close to their nest. They kill dogs all the time. You don’t want to mess with them.

Ah, the majestic Canadian goose. It’s the only bird that scares the hell out of me.

True story: I was giving piano lessons when we lived outside Chicago. One day I was waiting for a student to arrive, and I got a phone call right before her scheduled lesson. It was from her mother…she needed an escort from her car to the apartment building. You guessed it – there were geese surrounding her car when I came downstairs, and she was too scared to get out of the car with her kids. Like Cujo, but with geese.

At the Henley Regetta there is a full time job called the goose boy — which is kind of sexist as it’s recently been done by a girl. Anyway, the goose boy sits in fast little motor boat. Whenever the course manager spots a goose on the course, he radios the goose boy who rushes to try to herd the goose away from the racing boats. Unlike ducks, who will get out of the way of the oars of an eight at full tilt, geese attack. It usually ends badly for the goose, but it’s not considered a fair race when one boat has to dispatch an attacking goose on its way to the finish line — or really great for the goose either.

Ive raised about a dozen Canadian geese, they were great animals actually, they never attacked anyone and they particularly liked getting scratched around their head (an area hard for them to scratch themselves).

If the goose didnt trust you and you were in his/her space I can imagine they would kick ass, they actually seemed to be pretty smart from what I remember and the domesticated geese were dumb as a sack of hammers.

Great video, between the accent of the guy and the fact that the goose wouldnt give up, made me laugh pretty hard :)

This guy was inteerviewed for UK tv when this video was originally getting mad youtube love.. He says he did nothing to provoke it, has no past history of hunting on the lake and even (if I remember correctly) knew this particular goose being placid from previous visits.

If ever one questioned that birds evolved from dinosaurs, this video has the answer. There are definitely a few frames there where the fellow has the goose by the neck, and the goose has a beak full of dog fur. I’m a little bit skeptical of the “man killed by geese” story though. Was it a heart attack?

When I was very young my German shepherd puppy was attacked by about a dozen Canada geese. She lost, and did not was to go for a walk near that pond for the rest of her days, and I was nervous around geese into my 20’s.

It does make you wonder though – why was he filming the whole thing in the first place? Seems like quite a hassle to manhandle a goose and wield a camera at the same time… not to mention operating a motor boat.

I’m a wildlife rehab volunteer for our local humane society as well as a long-time waterfowl hunter.

IMO it is most likely the goose had a nest on shore and it was protecting eggs/goslings.

As for the story of a goose killing someone, I find it somewhat unlikely unless the goose caused a heart-attack or a fall that indirectly caused the death. Getting bitten by a Canada Goose tickles more than it hurts. Thier wings (which they will beat you with) are relatively strong, but certainly not enough to kill someone.

When I was 6, I was chased all over my gran’s yard by her bloodthirsty geese. Damn things are like poultry Terminators – they don’t give up, even when you crawl into the rosebushes to try to escape. And yeah, I know several people who say that geese make great watchbeasts, although I would never trust them not to turn on you.

i agree with the first poster. The goose LOVES that dog. i have a duck who is IN LOVE with my corgi, the minute he catches sight of her it’s like watching an endless cartoon of Pepe L’Peau and that poor cat. i have to run interference with the ‘duck stick’, and have been reduced to helpless laughter on more than one occasion.

Brazilian geese are no friendlier. When I did crew, we had a bunch of geese that lived around the building where we kept the boats. (I’m writing in the past tense because I haven’t been there in years, but for all I know they probably still have geese). Just as effective as guard dogs!

There were a nesting pair of geese where I used to work – they used to chase us and hiss and honk every time we got too close. A coworker made the mistake of provoking them, and the next thing we knew one goose had him backed up against a fence, while the other stood guard on top of his car.

Last year, first golf game of the season. My buddy and I were golfing at a local golf course. This course (or pretty much any for that matter) is home to quite a few geese. After avioding conciderable of goose feces on the approach to the ball, my buddy hits his ball with his 3 wood right into a goose. The goose, needless to say, was a little pissed. I ended up chasing the goose with the golf cart so that my buddy could hit his next shot.

P.S. I prolly would have hit the goose with something in the boat. Not really hard at first, then progressively harder until it stopped.

It could be that the goose only sees the dog as a threat. Eggs nearby? That would be my guess.
In the wild, dogs(wolves/fox/coyotes) are predators and the goose likely sees the dog that way.
People who have been attacked by them in the past should also realize that the geese aren’t too bright and are notoriously territorial. It’s a defense mechanism.
Too suggest that they are mean or evil is ridiculous. They are wild animals who are trying to protect themselves.
There is no logic, reason or emotion behind their actions. It pure instinct, like a reflex.
Having said all that, it is a funny video. The guy should have left the area though.

Any major predators that prey on geese have stopped, due to the fact that geese are brimming with various pesticides. The only one that seemed to have any adverse effect on their health was DDT, and that is because it weakened their eggshells. When they sat down, they would crush their own eggs.

We now have a species with no predators, and whose main source of food is human territory. They contribute nothing to the cycle of life anymore. Anyone who eats goose meat without it being tested first is at risk, thanks to our pesticides.

We have 2 options. Ban the use of pesticides on lawns, and start setting loose hunting dogs on public property after a few goose generations, or embark on a costly and wasteful extermination campaign.

This clip was on a show at least a year ago, iirc. The goose decided that the boat and dock were its home/nest and didn’t like anyone coming close to it. I would think it’d take awhile for this to happen, and the guy should have noticed this huge bird hanging out constantly there.

Yeah, some geese can be mean, and it hurts to have them bite/peck at you.

The guy KNEW that the goose would go after the smaller target, aka the passive dog. If he didn’t want to sensationalize it, he wouldn’t have brought a camera and the dog. He could have taken something like a broom and kept waving it at the goose til he gave up the spot, long before it came to this point.

Hell, he probably could have called his state DNR and had them remove the goose, if he was thinking that rationally. My gut tells me that the guy probably thought the geese were cute, probably did nothing to make them nest elsewhere, and then got surprised when they lost any fear of humans and took over that dock and boat.

I appreciate the sentiment, WBB882, but please, don’t thank me, I just did what any other person would have done in the same situation. I saw an emergency and acted, instinct took over.

You might call me a hero, but really, I’m just an average guy like you. The real heroes are the people who actually build bennyhillification equipment. Without their tireless contribution to mankind none of this would be possible.

Guard Geese make a lot of noise, that’s why they are effective. Whilst they can “bite” you pretty hard if you let them, one of the reasons that Geese terrorise people is our hesitancy to hurt them back – they are cute/natural etc. There come a time when you just need to kick the fck out of them. Seriously, why let Donald Duck’s older cousin push you around?

The species is called the Canada Goose (not “Canadian Goose”), and they live all over North America. Where I live, they’re a pest, like giant rats. They ruin parks and golf courses by crapping all over the place, they block traffic in the streets, they multiply like crazy, they chase people, oh and they cause planes to crash.

I give geese a wide berth and Canada geese, in particular, a very wide berth, they are massive and aggressive around their nests. My dog killed two of them last year while we were out walking on two separate occasions, and I felt awful, but that is what she does. The coyotes do the same, so I can only imagine the years of instinct propelling this attack.

“Any major predators that prey on geese have stopped, due to the fact that geese are brimming with various pesticides.”

Geese have a number of natural predators that continue to reduce populations in wilderness areas, including coyotes, wolves, foxes, weasels and man. Unfortunately, geese are very also very adaptable to public parks, golf-courses, subdivisions, etc where hunting and predation is limited. Foxes are much more scared of man than geese are, and you generally can’t hunt in a public park. Geese have taken full advantage of this.